CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--At today’s Chicago City Council meeting, Alderman Ricardo Munoz
introduced the “Stable Jobs Stable Airports Ordinance”, to provide
critical protections for jobs and revenue at Chicago’s airport
concessions operations. Chicago recently kicked off a massive
redevelopment of $250 million of food and retail concessions at O’Hare
and Midway airports. The Department of Aviation is currently reviewing
proposals from dozens of companies to operate retail businesses at the
airports, and will solicit proposals for food operations later this
year. As many as 1,500 workers, the majority of whom are Chicago
residents and members of UNITE HERE Local 1, will be affected by this
transition.

“We should not see another instance where we have more working families
put out of their jobs”

The ordinance, cosponsored by 29 Chicago city aldermen, would require
new concessions companies to guarantee a smooth transition to their
operations by retaining the existing employees and avoiding labor
disputes. Several key airport markets have implemented similar policies
during these times of transition, including Los Angeles, New York,
Miami, and Phoenix and San Diego just last year. The ordinance
introduced today in Chicago would also close a loophole in the City’s
living wage law that exempts airport concessions contractors from the
living wage requirement.

“I’m glad to see that the city is taking steps to make sure our jobs are
protected during this transition,” said Jamell Bond, who works as a cook
at O’Hare International Airport. “I’ve been working at the airport for
two and a half years and some of my coworkers have been there for over
twenty years and we’ve never seen a change this big. I want to make sure
that I’ll get to keep my job during this change, regardless of which
companies operate at the airport.”

“We should not see another instance where we have more working families
put out of their jobs,” said Alderman Sandi Jackson of the 7th
Ward. “Join us in this struggle to keep these folks working! I thank my
colleagues for introducing this ordinance and I look forward to working
with them to see this through.”

UNITE HERE Local 1 represents over 1,200 concessions workers at Chicago
O’Hare International and Midway Airports.

UNITE HERE is the union for travel hospitality workers, representing
25,000 airport workers across the U.S. and Canada.